“It’s beautiful!” squealed M as she clenched the hands of her two best friends. The three of them hopped in a circle of excitement, as they have done since they were children. They paused for only a moment to admire the cabin. The grass of the commons was thick and lush, right up to the front door. The woodlands were so close to the back that tree branches shaded the roof. Ivy wound around the split log structure, and flowers spilled from inside the woodlands out into the grass. The dappled sunlight shown off the three women, their pile of luggage, and the stablemen who were leading the wagon away.
Ivy broke the circle first, taking the key from around her neck and opening the large oak door. It was cool and shaded inside, with the scattered sunlight through the back window making streaks across the open room. “Looks like the boys aren’t here yet! We get first pick of the rooms!”
“Thank the Gods, I did not want to have to carry all this stuff inside.” Adina waved her hand at the pile of boxes and bags the stablemen had left for them. A rose colored glow surrounded them, and they slowly floated in front of her. The pile bottle necked in the door, and Meredith helped her reorganize the pile so it could float through.
“Please, like the boys wouldn’t feel the need to be all chivalrous and carry them in for us.”
Adina huffed a scoff towards Meredith as she followed the baggage into the cabin’s main room. “I’m sure they would. But then they would put everything in the wrong place, or have expectations of us being all girly and thankful. No thank you.”
Ivy smiled at her friend. “Like you won’t get all girly anyway?”
Adina laughed. “Shut your mouth, your highn-ASS.”
The three burst into bouts of giggling as they split into different tasks. Meredith explored the main room, Adina separated the boxes of foodstuffs from their personal effects. “In all seriousness, remember, that’s the last time you get to call me that this week.” Ivy opened one of the two doors off of the main room to study one of the bedrooms. “Rules are rules, after all. This room looks the cleanest. Two bunk beds. Who wants top bunk?”
“I do!” chorused the other two, which set off another fit of giggles.
“By the stars, if the boys meet us like this they will think us insane!” The girls followed their luggage into the surprisingly spacious bedroom. Ivy pulled back the curtains on the windows to let in more light, though it was tinged green from the leaves growing over the glass. Meredith climbed to the top of the bunk on the right wall, Adina leapt to the top of the bunk on the left. Ivy glared at them both as the luggage drifted into 3 piles. “Well, there are drawers under the bunks, and against the wall. We should have enough space to store Meredith’s things, at least.” The girls all glanced at the vastly larger of the three piles. “You know something you need to share with us?”
Meredith scoffed. “I like being prepared. Anyway, I wouldn’t trust my competition pieces to those goons at check in. I’m taking them over personally in the morning.”
“You just don’t want anyone to see what you did till the last possible moment.” Adina was lifting some of her bags onto her bunk, and hanging dresses on hangers that floated to her out of another box.
Ivy watched in amazement. “I sometimes forget just how good you are at that, Adina. The multi-tasking, the amount of minute dexterity… you are truly gifted.”
Adina smiled warmly at her friend. “I’m glad you think so. The Sisters still get on my case about the colors. Say it’s a sign of wasted potential.”
Meredith sighed. “The Sisters are a bunch of cloistered busybodies. I still say it’s just another aspect of your gift.” Her eyes unfocused, going dark and distant. Just as quickly she was back. “As far as I can See, your gift still comes with the colored light. Anyway, I think it’s beautiful, if not very subtle.”
Ivy finally chooses her bunk, under Adina, and starts unpacking herself. “That’s cheating Meredith. And calling the Sisters so harshly! They’re just trying to help.” She tried, unsuccessfully, to smooth wrinkles out of a dress on her mattress. “And Adina, why are you putting everything on hangers, there isn’t a wardrobe in here.”
“Oh, I beg to differ.” With a grin, a length of clothesline snaked out of the bag the hangers had been in, bathed in orange light. It tied itself to one of the rafters above, and began weaving itself around the beams, stretching several long pieces above the open space between the bunks. Once the line was secured on the other end, Adina’s dresses danced around the room, eventually hanging themselves on the line high above them. Adina beamed in the chorus of “Bravos!” and light applause that came from her friends.
~~~~
“Well, isn’t this a toilet?” sighed Devon .
He stared unbelieving at the run down old cabin. Weeds covered the majority of it, like the woods behind were trying to reclaim it. The peeling oak door was slightly ajar, revealing nothing inside but darkness.
“It’s not THAT bad. It’s rustic.” Samuel pulled the last of his luggage off of the wagon, and nodded thanks to the stableman.
“I’m terrified to see what the bathroom looks like.”
Elliot beamed. “It won’t have one. There is a privy house between this cabin and the next one, over that way.”
Samuel laughed. “This is CAMPING, my friend. Roughing it!”
“I don’t think so, Samuel. This isn’t camping. Camping is a tent and a bed roll, not a cabin with a kitchen.”
“You’re a male, the whole world is your privy. It will be much worse for the girls.”
Elliot and Samuel started hauling in their equipment. Devon trailed behind, carrying the sacks of food. “I can’t believe I let you two talk me into this.”
Samuel sighed. “If I remember correctly, it was Elliot who needed the convincing, not you.”
They stopped in the main room. Two crates of food were already on the table in the middle of the room. The door to the right was closed, but light filtered under it. Light sounds of conversing welcomed them.
“Looks like they’re already here. I’ll set up the kitchen, you guys bring in everything else, K?” Elliot took the bags from 
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